Voltron: Legendary Defender

Do you remember Saturday morning cartoons? If above a certain age, you do. They were fun, poppy, and enjoyable, although as we got older, we came to realize that they weren't very good.

This is like a Saturday morning cartoon, except it's good.

Aired on Netflix and made by basically the entire Korra team minus Bryke, this is based off the classic 80's show Voltron. That show was all right. This show is great. It's not Avatar-great or Korra-great, but it's great. The animation is top-notch, the writing is solid, the characters are interesting, the pacing is excellent and it's an all-around blast to watch.

This a series that is made for binge-watching. The episodes flow into each other so well that it's like a mix between a TV series and a movie. It's almost a new medium, or at least a new format. This is a very interesting development. It'll be interesting to see where it goes, both in this series and in television in general.

Thankfully, this is a series you will want to binge-watch. It starts you off in that direction by combining the first three episodes into one epic hour-long season premier, but it is the quality and addictiveness of the show that carry you the rest of the way. Honestly, I'd be surprised if anyone didn't binge-watch this. It's not like some of the great adult-skewing TV dramas like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, or even shows like Avatar and Korra, which can tire you out and force you to take a break. These episodes leave you with enough energy that you want to springboard into the next one.

This choice extends to the series as a whole. Without giving too much away, the entire season ends abruptly, leaving us on a cliffhanger. Now, if they were focused on one season at a time, this would not be a good choice for the ending. It's unsatisfying. But when the entire series is completed, it's a brilliant idea. People would finish season 1 and jump immediately into season 2. Despite what you may have heard, it's very possible for later seasons to retroactively improve earlier seasons. This takes that to a whole new level.

None of these characters were particularly interesting in the old 80's show, but under the deft hand of Team Korra, they all have specific and well-defined hopes and fears and desires.

In a lot of shows where a team of heroes must save the day, one member of the team (or that member and his rival) get all the spotlight, while the other heroes are swept to the background. Sure, they may get episodes in the sun, but even then, it's obvious and contrived that they were just trying to get those characters more screen time. Often, those characters don't even have any bearing on the finally. But here, it's different. The team really feels like a team: all five members matter. There is a leader, but he doesn't overshadow the rest of the team, and it feels like he's the leader not because some marketing department declared him to be so, but because he's the most mature and knowledgeable out of all the characters, and would naturally be the leader.

I also love this series' ability to take typical TV-episode plots and make them emotionally and thematically resonant. In the third-to-last episode, the characters' ship gets corrupted. It's funny, yes, but by the end of the episode, an important sacrifice has to be made, and you'll be crying your eyes out. It takes a deft grip on storytelling to be able to pull something like this off.

Now I'm not saying the show's perfect. It can occasionally get bogged down in things we don't care about, and while a significant amount of suspension-of-disbelief is needed for a show like this, it sometimes pushes you too far and feels too contrived. But the weakest part of the show is its villains, none of which are all that interesting. When the villains are on screen, I kind of bide my time and wait for them to switch back to the heroes. But when they do switch back to the heroes, my eyes lock on to the screen. I was not expecting to become so invested in the characters and environment and plot, but Team Korra got me. Great show, guys. I will be waiting for season 2.

(P.S. I love the chemistry between the characters. It's funny and heartfelt. They really do make a good team.) By: Joshua A. Fagan http://jfmillenniumreviews.blogspot.com

Great main characters, excellent action, epic story, one of the greatest villains in history, overall a solid and enjoyable show

For anybody who has seen the previous series that debuted in the late 90's early 2000's, this is series is a major improvement over what we were given last time. The pilot episode starts out a bit sluggish, but considering what they need to establish in it that is to be expected. I think the biggest problem with the series is that to many people are looking at the series from the 80's that we got direct from Japan and are comparing it to that instead of letting it be a series unto itself.

The voice acting is excellent, and Rhys Darby is critically underused in seasons 1. Hopefully he will get more screen time in season 2! Some characters were given more screen time than others, but again that tends to happen early in a series when you are attempting to establish these characters. Season 2 should help even out the screen time and give other characters more time to develop as fan favorites

I've never been able to defend the original Voltron as a good show. I loved a lot about it, and I've re-watched the first four episodes strung together as the VHS movie 'Castle of Lions' so many times I have the entire thing memorized. The Japanese version was better, or at least more coherent for not being so heavily edited, but there always just something that didn't gel. Other reboot attempts that tried to either continue that original, or reboot it only cleaning up some of the nonsense, always fell a bit flat. This, though. This finally lets the concept sing. Netflix/Dreamworks and everyone have created a fresh version that doesn't stick too tightly to the original. It fixes a lot of incoherencies for it, and gives the series a stronger story with deeper characterization. But, it also takes elements from both the original Voltron and the Japanese GoLion, and even some of the mechanical mysticism of the comics, so it never feels like its abandoned the core of Voltron either. To the opposite, the 11 episodes are practically littered with smart references and allusions to scenes from the original that ring pretty true despite being in the middle of new circumstances. The isn't the Voltron from my childhood. Heck, it's not even Voltron as I remembered it being as a kid. This is a better Voltron entirely. All the delight of a Saturday morning cartoon, all the quirky style of an anime, and all the writing quality I'd hoped having Avatar/Korra alum on board would (and did) bring. If I have one complaint, it's that I still prefer the music and sound effects from the original, but that's neither here nor there and almost entirely nostalgia speaking. This is the better cartoon in every way that matters.

When I first started watching this show, I was skeptical. I didn't really know what to expect and I only watched it because people said it was good. I thought I wouldn't make it through half of the series.

I was wrong.

This is one of the best series I have ever watched. It had the humor, it had the happy moments, it had the heartbreak. In my opinion, there were good character arcs and the plot was good. The first couple seasons were really good and wholesome, but it just got sadder as the show went on. Unfortunately, it started to spiral a lot towards the end. This show had so much potential, and they decided to end it on a very choppy note. It would have been a lot more successful if the kept going a little longer. This is one of the shows major flaws.

I rate 10/10 for the first 6 seasons, but more of a 5/10 for the last two. Better ending next time please.